Savieli penalty miss cost Ekhaya as Mhone completes Eagles comeback

Micium Mhone scored a winning goal for Blue Eagles to end their two-game losing streak in the TNM Super League after coming from behind to beat rookies Ekhaya FC 2-1 at the Kamuzu Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

In a dramatic match between the two sides, James Lumbe fired the Cowboys ahead early into the game but Tonic Viyuyi levelled just before halftime and Emmanuel Savieli saw his penalty saved by Precious Masamba**,** then Mhone punished the hosts with a well**-**taken goal to seal the win.

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The hosts began on a high note as Emmanuel Savieli scored in the fifth minute but it was ruled out for offside before James Lumbe scored in the 6-yard box after Bennett Konyo’s clearance hit Savieli for the ball to find Lumbe for his second goal in two straight matches.

Blue Eagles began to attack more in search of an equaliser as Gilbert Chirwa sent his effort straight to Joshua Waka before Laurent Banda set up Tonic Viyuyi for an equaliser in the 40th minute**,** and five minutes later, Lumbe was forced to be replaced by Wongani Kaponya due to an injury.

The Cowboys had a chance to retake their lead three minutes into the second half when Ganizani James handled the ball in the box for a penalty for Ekhaya but Emmanuel Savieli had his effort saved by Precious Masamba**. Then** Lovemore Mbeta and Hermas Masinja paved the way for Blessings Malinda and Joseph Saiwa but Eagles continued to pile on more pressure.

Micium Mhone completed the turnaround with a brilliant connection from Trouble Banda’s cross to fire Eagles ahead in the 57th minute**,** then Savieli drove his effort wide before Checkson Aliz paved the way for Geoffrey Maluwa while Clever Chikwata and Samuel Rukura replaced Stanley Biliati and Moses Banda for the hosts.

Eagles kept on knocking for their third of the day as Mhone sent his powerful shot straight to Waka**,** then a late triple change that saw Jacob Robert, Lanken Mwale and John Banda replace Konyo, Laurent and Pius Saka in the 94th minute brought no change as Blue Eagles got the win.

Head coach for the Eagles, De Klerk Msakakuona, was happy with the win and said that he told his boys to win the game at any cost.

“We were coming from two defeats against Civil and Wanderers where we scored two and conceded six, so we told them to fight for a win and the boys have played exactly what we told them during training and I’m happy for that,” said Msakakuona.

On his part, Enos Chatama of Ekhaya FC said his team was disorganised, lacked leadership and there was no transition when going forward.

“Of course we didn’t have Alick Lungu, Levison Mnyenyembe and James Lumbe got injured but there’s a need for other players to step up to the challenge. Today we were just poor, we were complacent which seems to be a motto in the team and we lack players who can organise other players**—**even the goalkeeper failed to organise the defence even when we were 1-0 up,” said Chatama.

He also highlighted the need to step up their game as it is not just the work of the coaches but also the work of players to work hard and believes the team can do better than the way they played in the game.

The win moved the Area 30 side up to 31 points from 8 wins, 7 draws and 7 defeats in position 7 while Ekhaya remain 6th on the table with 32 points from 10 wins, two draws and 9 losses in the League.